I'm in SE PA, and where I've hunted in the past has strictly been in the woods, and the .30-30 got the job done. I'm now hunting patches of woods and adjacent corn/bean fields. So, I'm still going to have woods hunting, but longer shots in the fields. I shot my deer this year still hunting thick stuff. Being this is the first time I bought myself a hunting gun and scope, I'll see how this goes and go from there.

..........and I hunt the same terrain as you but a bit more woods. I think you'll be fine. Go use your rig and find out.

I listed my shot in the longest kill on this forum but mine was 4 feet, not 400 feet or 400 yards. I used a handgun, 44 magnum N frame. Dang deer almost fell on top of me......

Amazing how close they come in the woods, especially when they don't wind you.......

I'm a creeper. Was actually squatting next to a deadfall and the deer walked right up. I don't use a stand, I don't own one but then I don't bow hunt. Just happened to be using a sidearm. A rifle would have been no good anyway and actually, where I hunt, a handgun of sufficient caliber is really all that's needed.... and much easier to handle under trees as I found out with the .338 LRH. That barrel sticks up way too far....lol

My hunting buddies were all teasing me (about the .338). Their comment was if there was a tree in the way, I could just shoot through it.....

I'm used to squatting, I farm and all famers I know do it......

I like to scout the runs in the woods prior to (day prior) and then place myself off a well used run and wait. I try to get out before sun rise, hunt until about 11:30 am and then head in and go out again about 3 until dark or I can't see anymore (not that I see all that well in the first place......).

Going out west this fall so I'll have to change my approach I imagine.....

Planning on carrying the 308 (out west, New Mexico) but I'll take the cannon along just in case. I've long lusted for a long range target. Knowing my skill level, I'll probably miss anyway.

I'm leaning toward the Viper HS side parallelax 44mm objective in Warne rings on an EGW rail. Just got the 308 last week and it's in the closet right now. I'll have to break it in and sight it at 200.

Interestingly, where I live is the same Deer Management Unit as our property 'up north' with one exception. Here, you can't use a centerfire. It's bow, muzzleloader or handgun. Up there it's anything that goes bang and has a primer in the center. Needless to say, a magnum handgun is the firearm of choice.

I like to get out before dark and get in a stand for a a couple hours. Then I get down and start moving through the thick stuff looking for the deer if they're not moving on their own or being pushed. That's for rifle.

Bow is much more typical, but I don't mind still hunting with a bow if the stands aren't working.

2007 was the last time I was out hunting before the couple days I managed this year. The Marine Corps will do that and I actually wasn't planning on being in the US for this past hunting season through this summer, but the deployment was cancelled due to the draw down.

I'm hoping to make a lot more time for scouting this year and having several spots to choose from.

I tend to stay in one spot or close to it. I take my day pack and granola bars and water and my plastic (bubble wrap) sitter-downer and get comfortable. Amazing how a sheet of bubble wrap insulates you from the damp-cold ground. Scouting prior gives me a good idea of the deer movement and the times.

My one lifesaver in the woods in the cold and snow is my Sorrell boots and wool mittens. I can't deal with cold hands or feet. Cold butt is one thing but not hands or feet.

I don't go looking, just let them come to me. Deer are creatures of habit and always take the route of least effort and resistance, unlike humans that make everything hard......

Why I like a handgun. It lays in my lap, always ready. My 44 double action has a hair trigger, typical of a 45 year old S&W..... I heard the one at 4 feet coming before I saw him. It's real still and silent and you hear their hooves on the forest floor breaking twigs and leaves...it's quite a rush when you hear them breathing....

Guess thats why I like to hunt. It really don't matter if I get a tag filled, it's being out there thats important, at least to me....

This New Mexico thing will be new to me. Not sure if I'll like it, but I want to try something different. I may go down south for wild boar too. I have some customers in Louisiana that want me to come down for a hunt. Sounds like fun. Besides, I like Cajun cuisine.

Looks good. Its your gun. You decide if it is over scoped or not. You know what you need it for. I think you did just right for the gun. Even better if you got a deal on it. I would never put a fixed 4x on nothing.

I was gone for most of the summer last year in Africa, 5 weeks in Michigan, and recovering from eye surgery, and expecting a deployment, so there was literally no scouting last year. So I got in the woods with a buddy who knew his area and it worked out that I put meat in the freezer. I'll have time this year and I'm already starting.

I liked the fixed 4 on my still hunting .30-.30. There's just something nostalgic about hunting thick stuff in Pa with a lever .30-30, maybe it's because it's how everyone in my family hunted deer before me. Between my dad, grandparents, and uncles, I've only ever seen one hunt with a bolt gun. But that was hunting the sides of mountains and not edges of crop fields.